Tag Archives: Summer

A refreshing blend of cold brew coffee and coconut water in a convenient grab and go bottle

Loco Coco is a unique product that mixes coconut water and cold brew coffee to produce a beverage unlike any you’ll find currently on the market. They’re currently on Kickstarter, and just passed their financial goal. You can find more information about them on their website.

While they certainly don’t advertise it only as a sport’s drink, the concept of using coffee to fuel up before, or after a workout intrigued me greatly. The folks over at Loco Coco provided me with samples of their two flagship products: Original, and Black. Before I get into those, let’s take a look at the two main ingredients.

The Snapshot

Coconut water has been touted as a miracle beverage, a great source of hydration, and a tasty post-workout drink by consumers and companies alike. Nearly 4 years ago NPR ran a fairly critical story about it, but that hasn’t stopped it from flying off store shelves.

While coffee is rarely advertised as a sport’s beverage, it shares key characteristics with energy drinks and pre-workout supplements – namely, caffeine. Caffeine is thought to be a dehydrator, yet the Army found that one 6oz cup per day has little impact on how our bodies hold onto water.

So, in theory, these two ingredients could be a killer combo. Most studies and research papers I found (like this one from Vanderbilt) showed that caffeine is one of the best ways to get a boost on physical performance; essentially you’re able to do more while feeling like you’re doing less. This, combined with the potassium, antioxidants, and vitamins found naturally in coconut water is a force to be trifled with. Regardless of your stance on coconut water’s miraculous qualities, the fact remains that it’s quite good for you.

My assessment is that Loco Coco is making a product that has all the markings of something that is as unique as it is healthy. But this is a coffee blog, and I’m all about taste. The next question on my mind: is it any good?

The Coffee

Loco Coco uses cold brew coffee presumably brewed in a Toddy based on their Kickstarter pictures. The only information given on their page refers to the coffee as “organic fair trade” which doesn’t give me much to go off of. This is understandable given that they may have to choose a variety of coffee roasters in order to scale their production to meet demand.

I was sent two versions of their product to review: Loco Coco Original and Loco Coco Black. I’ll be upfront: I liked them both, but I preferred Black. Here’s the breakdown.

Loco Coco Original

Their “original” beverage combines coconut water, cold brew coffee, coconut milk, and a pinch of pure cane sugar. This is a sweet beverage, more akin to something you might find from a big name coffee company appealing to the mass public’s palette. I certainly don’t count this against Loco Coco – after all, their goal is to appeal to a wide variety of consumers.

The coffee itself was heavily masked under the flavors of coconut water and coconut milk – but it was still present. I enjoyed the way all three flowed together to make something completely new, yet distinctly recognizable at the same time. The only thing I can compare this taste fusion to is caramel – sweet, rich, and slightly heavy. I didn’t hate it, but the coffee-lover in me wanted more. Thankfully, Loco Coco rose to the occasion in their other offering.

Loco Coco Black

I really enjoyed Black. It had the best parts of Loco Coco Original, and none of the drawbacks. The taste of fresh cold brew coffee shown through brightly, while at the same time accented with the crisp taste of coconut water. The coffee itself was somewhere between a light and medium roast, though the origins were hard to place.

Each sip made me nod in agreement with my taste buds, and when the bottle was finished I wanted another almost immediately. The aftertaste was bittersweet, yet with a soft edge that had to be the coconut water. I would far prefer this to something like Red Bull or Monster for a pre-workout beverage.

Final Thoughts

Loco Coco has already reached their $10,000 goal on Kickstarter, but I decided to back them anyways (if nothing else I’ll get some sweet gear!) It was an easy choice for me – I love coffee, and I enjoy coconut water. Loco Coco Black offers the best of each, and it’s a product I would really enjoy seeing on store shelves someday soon.

If you’re more into sweet things, you’ll love Loco Coco Original. According to their information page, Loco Coco is developing recipes for other sweet variations as well: Vanilla Chai, Cinnamon Bun, Mocha, and Chocolate Raspberry.

As of this writing their Kickstarter has a little more than two days until it’s complete. If you head over that way now, you can score a 4-pack of Coco Loco plus custom sunglasses for $50 – a small price to pay if you want to support some entrepreneurs who have developed a legitimately delicious product. Shipments start in October.

Can coffee and coconut water combine to make a sport’s drink? I think so. And if there’s anybody to tackle that question, it’s Loco Coco. Lord knows that they’ve made something tasty.

In this 4th installment of The BoiseCoffee Podcast I talk about cold brew coffee – what it is, how you make it, and why it’s suddenly become a cultural phenomenon this summer. For a quick guide on brewing, check out this post from earlier this summer.

I recommend using the Toddy Cold Brew system, available on Amazon here. Alternatively, you can use the French Press method or simply a mason jar with cheese cloth.

Brewing with a Toddy
Hot temperatures require a cool drink – and what better way to cool off than with a nice glass of cold brew coffee? There are plenty of options to buy cold brew, and chances are good that your local coffee shop offers their own concotion on tap or bottled. And while I’m a huge proponent of supporting local coffee, it’s much more cost effective to brew at home. But first, it might be helpful to answer to underlying question: what exactly is cold brew?

Let’s start with what cold brew is not: it’s not iced coffee. Iced coffee is exactly what its name implies – hot coffee that has been iced and cooled to help you beat the heat. And while there’s nothing wrong with enjoying iced coffee, you might find that you end up liking cold brew more – and here’s why. Properly brewed hot coffee requires water temperature of about 200 degrees F – just under boiling in most places. This temperature is ideal to help exctract the flavors that make your coffee unique. Too hot, and you’ll find that your coffee is bitter and over-extracted. Too cool, and you’ll be missing the tasting notes that make your coffee special. Dumping iced cubes into hot coffee may be a good way to get you through a summer day, but it will alter the taste of your coffee, generally for the worse.

Cold brew coffee takes a different approach. Rather than using hot water to quickly extract a cup of coffee from ground beans, cold brew requires that you soak a large volume of coffee grounds in cold water for an extended period of time (typically 8 to 24 hours). The result will be a strong coffee concentrate that you can mix with water or milk to give you a nice chilled coffee beverage without sacrificing the great taste of the beans you purchased. There are other ways to achieve cold brew, but the above explanation is the easiest to understand.

There are tons of cold brew coffee brewers on the market, and most are very affordable. That being said, all you really need is a jug or jar to soak your coffee grounds, a refridgerator to keep them cool, and a filter to get the end result.

I use the Toddy – a simple system that uses a large jug and includes a rubber stopper and reusable filter. It goes for $34.95 on Amazon, and you can find out more here. I used Toddy’s recommended brew method: 170grams (about 6oz) of course coffee grounds (ground slightly courser than French Press) followed by 1 cup of water. Add 3 more cups of water to wet the rest of the coffee grounds, followed by another 170grams of coffee. After 5 minutes, add the last 3 cups of water. Toddy recommends that you do not stir to avoid a clogged filter, so it’s important to add water in such a way that all the coffee grounds are wet.

After adding all the ingrediants, simply put your jug in the refridgerator for 12 to 18 hours. Once brewed, set the jug on top of the included glass carafe and remove the rubber stopper to allow the coffee to exit through the filter.

I used Dark Horse Coffee Roaster’s Guatemalan Hunapu for my latest batch of cold brew in my Toddy, and it turned out fantastic. If you want to give Dark Horse a try, check them out on Tell Market here.

If you’re more inclined to use materials that you already have at home, a mason jar and cheesecloth can work great. HuffPost has an entertaining (if slightly provocative) article about how you can do this. Check it out here.

What are you waiting for? Go give cold brew a try! Have a different method that you prefer using? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know.